Improved mode of preventing jarring and jolting of railroad cars and locomotives



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. j

-EEUBEN A. RILEY, on GREENEIELD, INDIANA.

IMPROVED MODE 0F PREVENTING JARRING AND lOLTlNG OF RAILROAD CARS ANDl LOCOMOTIVES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N o. 34,525, dated February 25, 1862.

To a/ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that I, REUBEN A. RILEY, of the county of Hancock, in the State of Indiana, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Preventing the Jarring, J olting, and Bounding of the Locomotives and Cars Running on Railroads, produced by crossing the head-joints of the rails and switches and the open spaces in frogs, and preventing to a great extent the wear of- Wheels, the battering of the ends of the rails, the crystalization of the face of the rails, and the breaking and wear and tear of the rolling-stock on railroads, and Which invention, in comparison with the other modes of constructing car- Wheels and railroad-tracks, will materially lessen the resistance to running the cars, lessen the danger, and materiallyincrease the speed, safety, and ease of railroad travel and transportation. In short, my improvements contemplate the use of the common T-rail and making the railroad-track the equivalent at all points of one continuous rail, notwithstanding the head-joints, frogs, and switches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures and explanations thereof marked and written thereon, which are included and made a part therof.

The nature (philosophy) of my invention is to construct the flanges of the locomotive and car Wheels designed to be usedon any particular railroad of exactly equal depth and with a face or tread on theilange of sufficient width and strength to sustain the car with any burden and at any speed, and to construct a short rail of suflicient width and strength to sustain the cars, which short rail yis placed upon the chair on the inside of the track, breaking or lapping the head-joint of the rails, and which short rail is so placed that its face is exactly as far b'elow the face of the (common T or any other) long rail as the ilange of the car-wheel is deep, such short rail to be made ofiron, either castor Wrought, or of any other hard substance, slightly convex or lowered on the face near the ends. It (the short rail) may be cast upon andas a part of the chair, or it may be of wrought-iron, fastened by means of a dovetailed groove in the chair, or it may be spiked down against the inside of the long rail upon the chair, and it may be of any desired length.

The frog is constructed of like material with dovetail mortises at the proper places to receive and hold the ends of the-long rails, and with suchshort rails constructed orfastened upon it of any desired angle. The mortises which receive and hold the ends of the long rails and the short rails that may be constructed or fastened upon the frog are each so constructed that the face of these rails shall be exactly as high above the face of the frog as the flange ofthe car-wheel is deep, the face of the frog being made lto receive and sust-ain the Weight of the oars upon the flange of the wheel at the joints and open spaces between the rails on the frog While resting upon or passing over. That part of the face over which the iange of the wheel passes is slightly convexed near the edge. The frog may be constructed of such shape and angle as may be desired in all other respects.

The face ofthe switch upon which the movable rails slide to meet inline the stationary ones is constructed with dovetail mortises to receive and hold the stationary rails on the one side, and on the other the end of the movable rails is cut awayfrom beneath, so as to allow the rail to be passed over the face of the switch and form in line at the proper height with the stationary rails, so as to form a head-joint on the face of the switch. The stationary rails are so let into the side and the movable so out from beneath and placed upon the face of the switch that both will extend the exact distance above the face of the switch that the ange of the wheels are deep. The facev of the switch should be slightly convex near the edges.

These invented improvements contemplate the use of the common T-rails without alteration, and can be made applicable to all kinds of rails. They contemplate no change in the construction of locomotive or car, except the face on the iiange of the car-wheels of the proper Width and depth.

I. claim as my invented improvement the following:

The faced liange on the car-Wheels, of uniform depth, the low rail on the chair on the inside of the track, lapping the head-joints of the rails to support the car on the flange of the Wheelwhile passing over the same, the face on the frog. and the face on the switch to receive and support the car on the flange of the Wheels while passing over the head-j oints and open spaces thereon, and all these, in combination, tted and adapted to each other, by which all open spaces in the track of railroads are practically closed and the even plane of the cars in motion upon thetrack at all points maintained.

REUBEN A. RILEY.

Attest:

L. H. GRALL, J. E. MENDENHALL. 

